1.3 Drifting Continents



Vocabulary


Pangaea: means all lands -or that all continents were together
Continental Drift: the hypothesis that the continents were together once
Fossil: Trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock

Outline


Intro

  • Africa and South America looks like jigsaw puzzle pieces that fit together

The Theory of Continental Drift

  • 1910 Alfred Wegnar
    • Hypothesis was that the continents were once joined together that happened 300 years ago
  • Evidence from landforms
    • Mountains
      • Line up South America and Argentina
        • coal field
          • European coal field with North America
  • Evidence for Fossils
    • found common dinosaur fossil and plant fossil
  • Evidence for Climate
    • Current places in the world had the opposite climate
      • hot places had rock scratches which indicated glaciers were once there

Scientists Rejected Wegner's Theory

  • Wegnar lacked explanation about why continental drift